Youth News
One Point One Million Dollars Generated by Sale of Champions at OYE- Including $75,000 for the 2016 Grand Champion Market Steer
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 05:48:54 CDT
The Sale of Champions that helped conclude the 101st Annual Oklahoma Youth Expo on Friday afternoon turned out to be the second best premium sale ever for the Oklahoma City spring show. OYE officials estimate that $1.1 million dollars was invested into the lives of 211 Oklahoma 4-H and FFA students that qualified market animals for the sale. That compares to the record $1.25 million paid out last year as the OYE celebrated it's one hundredth birthday even as the oil and gas and agricultural industries were in much better shape financially.
The dollars generated here in 2016 easily bested the estimated $950,000 generated in the 2014 Premium Sale.
At the top of the sale, the Grand Champion Market Steer brought the second highest total ever- $75,000. The Steer, owned and shown by Baylor Bonham of Newcastle FFA, was purchased by a buyers consortium that included Express Ranches, Livestock Nutrition Center, Lopez Foods and Bank of Western Oklahoma. Pictured here is Baylor, his Crossbred Steer named Floyd and Auctioneer Eddie Sims, who announced his retirement last year from selling animals at the OYE. Sims agreed to return in 2016 and sell the first animal to kick off the second hundred years of the Oklahoma Youth Expo.
The Grand Champion Market Barrow was second to sell- and a consortium of buyers also pooled their money and paid $30,000 for the Barrow shown by Karli Schwerdtfeger of Stratford 4-H. Her barrow was the Grand Champion Hampshire market hog- and the buyers group included Oklahoma State Fair, the Tom Gilliam Family and Stockman Auction Oklahoma.
The Grand Market Lamb was the Crossbred Champion and Makensie Goggin of Bethel 4-H owns and watched with excitment as her lamb brought $21,000. That bid came from yet another consortium of Touchstone Energy, Cusack Meats and the Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma. In the case of both the Barrow and the Lamb, the price received by the owner of the Grand saw a price for their animal under that of the record 2015 Centennial but higher than the prices for the Grand Champion of that species in 2014.
The Grand Champion Market Goat was the only one of the Grands that failed to bring as much money as either 2015 or 2014- the 2016 Grand Champion Goat, owned by Megan Greathouse of Ft. Gibson FFA, ended up with a bid of $12,000 that was paid by a group that included Show Rite Feeds, McDonalds and the Diamond Hats.
Here's a rundown of the Reserve and the Bronze Medallion animals as well:
Reserve Steer- Shown by Tommy Glover of Comanche County 4-H; $40,000 paid by Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma, McAfee and Taft and Friends of Tommy Glover
Reserve Barrow- Shown by Gavin Straka of El Reno 4-H; $15,000 paid by Byford Auto Group, Oklahoma Pork Council and Blue and Gold Sausage
Reserve Lamb- Shown by Blake Skidgel of Pawnee 4-H; $10,000 Paid by group that includes Boot Barn and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
Reserve Goat- Shown by Halie Schovanec of Garber FFA; $8,500 paid by a group that includes P&K Equipment and Kellen Livestock
Bronze Steer (3rd Place)- Shown by Kennedy Vanzant of Payne COunty 4-H; $15,000 paid by a group that includes Oklahoma Ag Credit and McAfee and Taft Legal Firm
Bronze Barrow (3rd Place)- Shown by Ali Harjo of El Reno FFA; $10,000 paid by a group that includes CSTK Trailers and Touchstone Energy
Bronze Lamb (3rd Place)- Shown by Lydia Straka of El Reno 4-H; $7,500 paid by a group that includes Rabo Bank and the Gooden Group
Bronze Goat (3rd Place)- Shown by Katie Eisenhauer of Oklahoma County 4-H; $7,000 paid by group that includes Pfeiffer Farms, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and Gungoll Jackson.
We have pictures from the Sale of Champions now up in our Flickr Album. Already posted are more than 2,000 photos from the 2016 OYE, spread out over the entire event- and you can check them out on our FLICKR page that is located here. Exhibitors and their families are welcome to download their favorite pictures from our 2016 OYE Flickr Album.
Our Coverage of the 2016 Oklahoma Youth Expo is a service of ITC Great Plains, Your Energy Superhighway- learn more about this high voltage, transmission only utility and their committment to the communities they serve which is the cornerstone of their business- click here for their website. We also salute the title sponsor of the 2016 OYE, McDonalds- click here to learn more about how McDonalds is a leader in sustainability.
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